Summary: A simple, but memorable sermon for Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday — it’s kind of a solemn day. It’s the start of Lent —a word which means “spring” in German. But more than this, it’s the time each year when we intently focus on the path Christ Jesus laid out for us to follow — to be true to his word, true to his calling, and true to the faith, hope and life we share in him.

You know though, sometimes it’s kind of hard to focus on spring when winter is in full force around us. Today it’s been snowing, and within the past week alone, the mountains surrounding our communities have received over 50 inches of fresh snow. For, while we’re beginning to look forward to spring, we have still have to live in the reality that we’re still surrounded by the billions of fluffy white flakes from the Lord’s heavenly storehouses.

Snow — the bible speaks of it often, likening it to that which is pure, clean, and righteous. Truly, the crystal formations of snowflakes are beautiful. There are many different shapes and sizes of snowflakes; amazingly, each and every one is unique.

But despite their uniqueness, snowflakes have one common thing: their dirty hearts. Oddly enough, snowflakes start as tiny dust particles, which serve as the nucleus (or center) of the snowflake.

Like snowflakes, we have been beautifully created by God. We are the greatest of all God’s creation. We are his pride, and his joy; and like snowflakes we are all created uniquely. Yet, like snowflakes, we too have dirty hearts. We’re all marked by sin; we’re all stained at the core of our being; we’re all dirty in the middle. But through Jesus Christ, we can all be made clean. The dirt at the core of our being can be washed way, and we can be made pure in Christ Jesus. Let’s consider how.

WINTER OF THE HEART

You know, our sin nature likes to lurk in the cold winter of the spirit. Just as the dust particle at the center of a snowflake causes it to crystallize, so too does the sin at the center of our hearts. Our sin has a tendency to crystallize our lives and harden our hearts. With time and pressure, our sin nature becomes harder and harder, and builds ice-like layers that separate us further from God, and each another.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:12-13). Therefore, (paraphrasing verse 15) today, when you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the winter months of your soul.

No longer do our lives need to be blanketed in darkness, despair, and the frigid cold of sin’s night. We can live with a steadfast spirit within us. For those who ask, God will restore to us the joy of our salvation, and grant to us a willing spirit that sustains us. Through his Son, God will create in us a pure heart. He will thaw our coldness, and melt our hearts with the bright light and the warmth of Jesus Christ. He will expose the dirt of our lives, wash it away, and make us clean again.